Scar of The Hunter
by Simplyimagineit
Summary: Daughter of Apollo, Hunter of Artemis. This was suppose to be a regular visit to Camp Half-Blood. But destruction is coming, and you, along with your sisters, are leaving everything but peace in your wake. You have scarred him, and are incapable of apologize for it. You have permanently wounded him. Him, Son of Poseidon, Victim of the Hunt. Slight AU. On Wattpad.
1. First you shot him

"I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis.

I turn my back on the company of men,

accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt."

* * *

I take an arrow from the quiver behind my back, placing it on the string, fingers tightening up naturally against the wooden bow. I ignore the muffled talk behind me and pull the string back with full force, eyes concentrated on the dummy a couple feet away. I close them for a moment, lick my lips and let the string go, watching the arrow as it hits its target; Right between the dummies eyes. I put the bow down and turn around to see two girls in matching silver parkas behind me.

Dayi stood with her hands behind her head, her dark hair tangled up in knots as she tries to do her first ever French braid. It was not working out, to say the least. "Gods, this is the most complicated thing ever! Geez, Mel, how do you do it?"

Melissa Fares' bright blue eyes squinted as she stuck her tongue out. Being a daughter of Iris, she was often mistaken for one of Aphrodite's kids. She was absolutely beautiful in every way, and I had envied her from day one. Artistic and kind, she was the complete opposite of me. And yet, I couldn't bring myself to hate her. She was too sweet, too caring. I just wish she didn't seem so perfect all the time.

"It takes patience and practice, D. Your luck won't help you this time," she states teasingly and I let out a snort.

"Oh haha, very funny," Dayi replies, letting her hands fall from her head to her sides, dark eyes rolling in mock irritation. As the daughter of Tyche, I can see why she depended on her luck. We would tease her many times about it, and it never got old, but it sure did for her.

"Shh, do you hear that?" Melissa whispers all of a sudden, her eyes widening a bit as she looked to the side, searching for the sound that only she had heard.

I furrow my brows as Dayi shakes her head. "No, haven't heard a thing besides Dayi's failure."

Dayi faces me and frowns. "You can't hear failure, that's not possible."

"Oh really, then how come I can hear your's?" I smirk as her cheeks redden. She opens her mouth to protest, but Melissa slaps her hand over it to silence her. "Don't. I'm serious. Just listen." Dayi and I look at each other and obey, but regret it immediately, because once we do, we hear exactly what the daughter of Iris was talking about.

"Run," I demand, and we all start bolting forward. I can feel Dayi pant next to me and Meli rushing to catch up."Faster Mel! Speed up!" She says something incoherently but I continue to run until I make contact with the ground as something hits my back.

"Gah!" I yelp out. I'm tackled to the ground by who else, but our very own lieutenant.

Thalia Grace flips me over and grins mischievously. "Getting out of shape there, Angie," the daughter of Zeus says, her smirking, electric blue eyes taunting me.

I scoff and roll my eyes as Thalia stands up and offers me her hand. I ignore it and get up myself, reaching down to pick up my bow and arrow Hekatos, (or Far-Shooter, in English) and turn it back into a sun shaped keychain. I stuff it in my pocket and look up at Thalia.

"I'm not out of shape, I was just...slow," I state and Thalia laughs.

"You can't be slow, daughter of Apollo. You're a hunter," she mocks and her eyes look me over. I shake my head and sigh, turning to face Melissa and Dayi who were both catching their breaths. They were the new recruits, but I had warmed up to them quickly. Thalia, on the other hand, was always making sure to test them. I loved Thalia, I really did. She was the only one who could stuff more cheeseburgers down her throat than I could and she had great taste in music. But, I'm not the only one who agrees that she could be a bit too aggressive and tough when it comes to our job.

"Hey, newbies, you alive?" she asks Dayi and Melissa. The daughter of Iris nods breathlessly while the daughter of Tyche puts one thumb up in the air.

Thalia snickers and I give her a look. "Ease up Thal, seriously."

She shrugs and and puts a head on my shoulder. "I'm just playing. Everybody gets teased when they first join. Even you," she pinches my cheeks and I groan, slapping her hand away, causing her to laugh once again. I flash her a soft smile and roll my eyes. "Alright boss, we made it to camp, now what?"

Thalia puts a hand under her chin and hums before snapping her fingers. "We eat! And, as tradition follows, we play a rousing game of capture the flag." I nod and off Thalia goes to tell the other hunters. I stay back and wait for Melissa and Dayi, who walk over to me with tired expressions.

"That scared the jizz out of me," Dayi says. "I thought it was that hellhound we fought before we got here again. He almost got me that one time."

I shake my head. "Nah, Thalia's always up to something. Daughter of Zeus is definitely one to look out for," I reply back. Melissa nods and off we go to follow Thalia to the Pavillion. Once we make it, we are introduced as The Hunters of Artemis to all the campers and are presented with a game of capture the flag. Of course, we all agree to it, and then we are set free to dine and talk to the rest of the campers. But of course, truthful to the vow we took, we avoid any conversations with any of the boys.

A boy with sandy blonde hair looks my way and I send him a glare. He looks surprised for a moment before clearing his throat and averting his gaze. Good, I don't need any wandering eyes staring at me while I eat. That's just creepy in itself. After my offering to Apollo (though Artemis is like my adoptive mother, Apollo, her brother, is my true father), I sit down between Dayi and Melissa and in front of Thalia and Phoebe. We all dig into our juicy steaks with watery mouths and I chug down my water so fast I don't even take a moment to breath. I was starved, thirsty, and just overall exhausted. Thalia looks at me with a raised brow and I shrug, stuffing another piece of meat into my mouth. I watch curiously as Phoebe whispers something to Thalia, causing her eyes to widen and her goblet to almost spill over. She doesn't even excuse herself from the table as she stands up and walks away to the other part of the camp. I frown and turn to Phoebe, but she avoids my gaze.

"Is she going to finish that?" Dayi suddenly asks, and everyone in the table turns to stare at her. "What?" she says shrugging. "I was just asking."

* * *

_"He saved her."_

_"No he didn't, Athena's daughter did."_

_"No, all he did was just bring a blanket to her. Big whoop."_

_"The Golden Fleece is more than just a blanket you idiot. It can bring back life!"_

After eating, the rest of the hunters kept discussing the reason for Thalia's disappearance. Phoebe wouldn't spill, but we got some things out of her.

"It's a friend of hers. A good friend," was all she said, but somehow that got everyone talking.

"Think it's like her ex-boyfriend or something?" Dayi asks me. I bite my lip and try to think of Thalia actually dating someone. I grimace and shake my head. "No way. Thalie with a boyfriend? Yeah right."

"Phoebe just said it was a good friend, guys. Maybe that's it. A good friend," Melissa says, nodding.

"Well he must be a real good friend if she just left her food like that," Dayi snorts.

"Why does everyone assume it's a guy? A girl can be a 'good friend' too, you know. You guys are my good friends," I say, because deep down inside, the thought of Thalia having been in any kind of relationship with a guy annoys me. We made an oath, and sure, she probably did all of that stuff before it, but still. She was like my older sister. That's what all of us hunters were to each other. Sisters. We looked out for one another, and right now, that was all I was doing.

A satyr runs to the middle of the forest ground, ringing a conch, signaling the commencement of the game. It was us hunters against the entirety of Camp Half-Blood. I was always up for a game of capture the flag, but right now my thoughts were on Thalia and her 'good friend'. All I remember were people running and yelling out battle cries, and next thing I know, my sisters have all deserted me. Was no one else concerned about this whole ordeal but I? I frown and start jogging off to the side, pausing as I hear footsteps.

"It's been so long, Sparky. You look different."

"I'm immortal, I couldn't possibly look different."

There are two voices, and as I press myself against a tree, I realized I knew one of them. Very well.

"But yes, it has been a while dude," Thalia says again.

"Very. Listen Thalia, I need to ask you something. I-I know you've already done so much for me, and I know you're busy with the hunters and all..."

I stuff my hand inside my pocket, taking out Hekatos and holding it tightly in my hand as the other voice kept talking. It belonged to a boy, I knew that much was true. And knowing that Thalia was alone with a boy threw me on edge. I suddenly hear a yelp coming from her and next thing I know, Hekatos is back to it's shiny black, bow and arrow form, and I am aiming it right at a boy with dark hair and lights eyes.

Thalia is near him, leaning down to hold her bare foot, but looks up at me when she hears me move. The boy stares at me with wide eyes but I stay in place and lock eyes with Thalia. She opens her mouth to speak, but it is too late, my arrow is shot and I hit the boy on his shoulder, causing him to yelp and fall to the ground.

"Percy!" Thalia screams and I just stand there frozen, cold hard realization washing over my face. I had just shot an arrow through someone's shoulder.

And that someone was Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.


	2. Then you tried to apologize but failed

I apologize for whatever the heck happened to this chapter. Seriously I have no idea why it went all whack, but now it's fixed and I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks so much for the reviews and favorites so far.

* * *

"I didn't mean to!"

"What, you didn't mean to shoot an arrow through his shoulder? 'Cause that's what you did!"

I stood outside the infirmary, my back to the wall as Thalia yelled at me, fists clenched and her eyes shooting daggers. A frown remains plastered on my face but I flinch as thunder roars above us.

"Seriously Angie, what were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking about you, Thalia! Your safety! Your vow! You promised Artemis-"

"-That I would forever remain without the company of men," she cuts me off, frowning dangerously as lightning flashes behind her. "Gods, Percy isn't my boyfriend Ang! He's a friend. A really great friend."

"Phoebe said he was a really good friend,"I say, looking up at the roof.

"Trust me, good is an understatement."

It's quiet for a moment until Thalia sighs and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Out of all the things you could have done, you decided to almost kill Seaweed brain. I have underestimated you. You really are a badass."

I stare at her and scoff, shaking my head. "I wasn't really planning on shooting him. It kind of just happened. Years of training with you guys and it's become an instinct."

She gives me an almost strange smile before turning her attention to the person who has just stepped outside the infirmary doors.

"How is he?" the daughter of Zeus asks. A satyr with curly hair nods and gives her a shrug. "He's Percy. A little arrow to the shoulder isn't going to kill him."

Thalia sighs, relieved, and I am surprised to hear myself join her. "Can we come in?" she asks, and the satyr nods again. He looks at me and cocks his head, turning to Thalia. "Who's this?" he points.

"This is Angie, one of our hunters. Fairly new, fairly old. She's a daughter of Apollo," Thalia shrugs and enters the infirmary. I am left outside with the satyr and scratch the back of my shoulder sheepishly.

"I'm Trevor," he says after a moment, smiling softly. "Are you the one who shot Percy in the..."

"I'm coming, Thalia!" I say, interrupting the satyr from finishing his question and entering the infirmary as well. No way was I going to get mixed up in that awkwardness.

Inside, there are cots lined up with clean white sheets and large, fluffy looking pillows. I take in the area and notice how relatively empty it is. No one with any serious conditions here, just some girl bruised from a spearing accident and a kid with a nose bleed. Nothing too intense, except for a boy at the end of the row of beds, laying down and drinking up a golden liquid handed to him by Thalia herself. As I walk near his cot, Thalia, the boy, and another camper turn to me, eyes wide and mouths open.

"I..."

"Hello," the other camper, a boy with curly brown hair and dark emerald eyes interrupts me, and I tilt my head a bit.

"H-hello. I...I came to...to apologize to..." I bite my lip, not able to let the words slip out. The boy on the cot, Percy Jackson, sits up a little, pushing the drink gently out of his mouth, making Thalia move it away.

He stares at me for a moment, but unlike the first time, his eyes are not fearful. Instead, they hold a kind of light to them, and his lips form into a tiny smile. "It's alright. I get hit on the shoulder by arrows all the time. It's a regular occurrence," he chuckles gently, but I flinch as he starts to cough. I begin to move closer, but stop myself before I actually do.

I nod and bite my lip. "I was just scared of Thalia getting hurt. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm so used to bad things happening that I..."

"Scared of Thalia getting hurt? Love, if anything, you should be scared of Percy getting hurt. Which, is actually what transpired," the green eyed boy said, laughing and shooting me a wink. I clutch Hekatos inside my jean pocket and can't help but glare at him.

"I'm not your 'love'," I state, my voice low. The green eyed boy stares at me for a moment, his demeanor never changing as his smile resembles that of a Cheshire Cat, giving me a mock bow. "Apologies, my lady. I suppose I was a bit too forward." I stay silent but I can hear Thalia snicker. "My name is Harold Dawson. But please, call me Har."

"Har?" I question, brows furrowing. "As in har-har, you're such a joke?" I meant it to be an insult, but Har ends up laughing along with Percy and I am left awkwardly standing in silence.

"Yes, that is exactly it. Mother would have laughed at that one."

I raise a brow. "And who is your mother?"

He grins and straightens up. "Aphrodite, goddess of love." Har wiggles his eyebrows and I have to keep myself from flying at him. No wonder he was such flirt. Kid of the goddes of love made a whole lot of sense.

"What's yours?"

I turn away from Har and look at Percy, surprised that he has ignored the fact that I had almost paralyzed him not but an hour ago, and is actually talking to me. "Umm, Apollo, he's my father," I say, nodding and still fiddling with Hekatos in my pocket.

"That's nice," Percy says and smiles a bit, "But I meant your name."

My cheeks redden. "Angie Prescott."

He hums and nods and continues to stare at me while I shuffle around and look at Thalia. She moves her gaze from me to Percy and smirks. "Angie, meet me outside near the lake in a couple minutes. Bring the Hunters."

I stare at her in confusion, but before I could say anything else, she grabs hold of the curtain around them and closes it, keeping me out of their sight.

* * *

I did as I was told. I gathered all the hunters and took them near the lake, waiting patiently for Thalia who took more than a few minutes to meet us there.

"So you shot him...in the shoulder?" Dayi asks for the millionth time.

I sigh in exasperation. "It was an accident! You tell me what you'd do if you thought a guy was hurting your friend."

"I wouldn't shoot him in the shoulder, that's for sure."

I growl and ignore her, picking up a rock from the ground and throwing it into the water. A couple seconds later, I hear footsteps behind me and I turn, satisfied.

"Finally! You said a couple minutes, not a whole..." I pause as I come face to face with a girl who was obviously not Thalia Grace. I frown. "Who are you?"

"Hello to you too," the girl says, a smug grin on her face.

Melissa rushes to my side, examining the girl and giving her an awkward smile. "Umm, hi. Are you friends with Thalia?"

"Not hardly," she says and and fixes her glasses. Her long black hair sways behind her as she turns to me. "But I am friends with the guy you shot in the shoulder."

I glare at her, my patience running thin. "Okay, enough. Who are you and what are you doing here? It's suppose to be Hunters only."

She clicks her tongue and looks me over. "You're a Hunter? Seems like they let anyone in nowadays." The girl laughs but I clench my fist, Melissa putting a hand on my shoulder. "Ana Watson, daughter of Athena at your service."

"Alright 'Ana Watson', do what do we owe this pleasure?" I say sarcastically. Dayi crosses her arms as Ana grins. "Oh boy! Pleasure, eh? Mind telling Theodore that?"

"Who?" Dayi asks, but before anything else could be said, Thalia finally marches up to us, Percy and Har by her side.

"Attention sisters, I have an announcement to make." She takes out a piece of paper from her pocket and unwraps it, holding it up for all of us to see. "Percy Jackson has told me about an issue arising. The Garden of the Hesperides is being threatened. As you all know, if The Garden is in danger, the Tree of Immortality will die and the gods would all but fade away. We need to protect the Garden and fight off those determined to destroy it. All of us will be joining him in this quest, along with several others who were chosen by Chiron himself."

"That's me," Ana whispers to Melissa proudly, and I roll my eyes.

"Hold on, others? Who are these 'others'?" Dayi asks and Percy nods, understanding.

"Seems like you met Ana. Like her mother, she is wise and posses knowledge about The Garden of the Hesperides. She'll guide us in locating it."

Ana grins and pumps her fist up in the air, shouting excitedly. Others around us, including Percy, laugh, but I find no humor in it. Everything we know could be thrown away, and this girl was acting like this was a party? Where is the logic in that, daughter of Athena?

"Harold will be joining us as well. Angie, you know him." All eyes are on me now and I can't help but flush at the attention. Har shoots me another wink and I frown, making Dayi chuckle.

"Is he a good friend of yours too?" she asks teasingly. I ignore her and turn back to Percy who has not noticed my red face. "Also, Theodore Roden."

"Son of Ares," Ana pipes up, and their's a slight sparkle in her eyes. I make a mental note to meet this Theodore guy. She had mentioned him before.

"And Nate O'Connor, son of Tyche," Thalia says and Dayi beams.

"A brother of yours," I tell her and she nods.

"Can't wait to meet him.

"Wait, so we're going to be traveling, with four boys?" Lena Michelson, one of us Hunters, says, and everyone around her begins to mumble.

"No way!" someone shouts from the back.

"What about the vow?"

"They're just going to mess things up!"

"We're better off alone!"

"Sisters!" Thalia demands, and everyone stays quiet. She puts the paper, a picture of The Garden of the Hesperides, back inside her pocket and puts her hands on her hips. "Listen up, this is Percy's quest, and he has decided to let us join. It is an honor, and I am certain that Artemis would understand. Now, enough talking, we leave tomorrow at dawn. I don't want to hear anymore complaints, understood?"

Everybody grumbles out an answer, but I just stand there, trying to process everything. So the Garden of the Hesperides is in danger, and we need to stop the tree of Immortality from dying, or else all the gods would disappear? And here I was hoping for another juicy steak and a nice nap.

"Back to the Cabin. We shall rest until tomorrow," Phoebe announces, and everyone but a few us does as she says.

Ana, Dayi and Melissa have stayed behind along with Thalia, Har, Percy and I.

"Chiron gave you this quest?" I ask Percy. He bites his lip and his sea blue eyes lock with mine. "It's not my quest. I...I fibbed. It's...it's not a quest at all. This, umm...actually came to me in a dream," he reveals, and his eyes look even deeper as his cheeks brighten.

I shake my head, snapping out of my thoughts. "You fibbed? Meaning there is no quest or certainty that the Garden is even going to be attacked. You just dreamt about it?"

"Okay, now that sounds bad when you say it."

"Hold on, I'm confused," Melissa states and Ana laughs.

"Seriously? You don't get it? It's fairly easy to process. Percy's a liar and has his head in the clouds, that's all."

Percy groans as Thalia chuckles and the rest of us just stand there like a bunch of third wheels.

"Ladies, may I say that you are all quite extraordinarily beautiful? Because really, you all are." I turn to see Har hitting on Melissa and Dayi and I grit my teeth in annoyance. That boy needed to be tied up in a leash. I just met him a moment ago and he was already getting on my nerves and flirting with my friends.

"And may I say that I could roundhouse kick you, shoot an arrow through your chest, and still make you spin your own wheel of torture? Because really, I can," Dayi says, pinching and wiggling the boys cheek teasingly, eyes threatening yet taunting. She walks off to the direction of the cabins and Har stays behind, rubbing his cheek, green eyes following her. "Hey wait!" he calls, and runs after her.

"What a fool," I mutter, and I jump in surprise as Percy chuckles.

"It's in his blood. He can't help it," he states.

"Being a fool?" I ask, an eyebrow raised.

He shakes his head and locks eyes with me once again. "Being in love."


	3. You also got him to confide in you

**IMPORTANT:** This story has been categorized as an AU because this is my take on the Percy Jackson series. Not everything is canon, of course, but that's because I want to be able to have freedom when writing. I adore the Percy Jackson series, and so I want to contribute to this amazing fandom, but would like to do it my own way. For example, I know Percy Jackson has sea green eyes, but because I picture Logan Lerman when writing this, I describe him with sea blue things like that, and several other changes, I hope you are enjoying this story :) Also, this sotry is on wattpad, and I update it there more often than here. story/20224033-scar-of-the-hunter

Thank you to those of you who have reviewed and put this story in your favorites and alerts. I appreciate it so much because this story means a lot to me, and I didn't think anybody would even read this, let alone review it.

σας ευχαριστώ

(Thank you)

* * *

My bed resided near the door of the cabin, allowing me to have something to stare at besides the irritating clock on the wall. All 30 of us are staying in Artemis' cabin despite our different godly parents. Only Hunters stay in her cabin, of course, given that she had no children herself.

Everyone was fast asleep, Meli drooling on her pillow next to me and Dayi snoring loudly. My eyes refuse to shut, too many questions and thoughts going through my head. So many things have occurred today, with Thalia, Percy and even Har. I just couldn't relax enough to slip into temporary unconsciousness. And I guess the world knew that as well, because a second later, there is a knock on the door. I sit up, but nobody else has stirred awake. The door continues to sound once again, and I get up quietly, opening it to see Percy in front of it.

"Come with me, we need to talk," he states, eyes looking straight at me. I stare at him for a moment, confused, before looking back at the snoring, sleeping girls. "Give me a moment," I tell him, and I close the door.

I pull my bag from under my bed and zip it open, pulling out my sliver parka and combat boots. I put the parka over my pajama shirt and tie my boots up, making sure to put the bag back under my bed. I swing the door open once again, seeing Percy still in the same place, and walk out, holding the parka closed. "Okay, what do we need to talk about?"

Percy begins to walk along the grass grounds and I follow next to him. "The Quest. I know you probably don't believe that a dream could show me the future, but...it can. It has. Dreams are-"

"-Powerful things," I finish along with him. He nods. "Yes, they are. And though I didn't tell Chiron anything, I'm sure he'll understand. There's still that tiny possibility that I-"

"Might not be right," I say with him once again, except this time I somehow end up blushing. I shake my head and look down, kicking a rock in front of my feet. "Do you believe you could be wrong?"

He stays silent, taking in my question. "I sure hope so. This is a pretty serious thing." He then stops walking abruptly and grabs my hand. I sputter out a strange sound as he remains quiet, eyes analyzing me. "It's you," he says gently, and I resist the urge to pull my hand away.

"Excuse me?" I ask, frowning. I don't like him touching me. I don't like how close he is. I don't enjoy the warmth of his hands on mine. I. Don't. Like. This

He takes in a deep breath, his sea blue eyes looking as if they were trying to hypnotize me. "The Oracle. It said..."

"Jackson!"

We turn our heads forward and see Ana running towards us. She stops in place and her eyes gaze over to our hands. "Was I interrupting something?" she asks, a mischievous smile on her face. I don't see Percy, but I feel my cheeks about to burst and I aggressively pull my hand away from his.

"No, you have perfect timing," I say bitterly, because in reality, she had the worst timing on the planet. I wanted to know what Percy was going to say. Something about the Oracle? It had to be something important to cause Percy to touch me, because anybody with a brain knows that if any man lays a hand on a Hunter of Artemis, we will rip him to shreds. Then again, Thalia did call him Seaweed brain.

Ana nods and hands Percy a backpack. "I filled it up with supplies. Even convinced some of the campers here to lend us some of their stuff. If we leave early before the sun is up, we can catch a train to San Francisco."

"A train? That would take a week!" I say, and Ana chuckles.

"Sure, if you took a mortal train it would. But this isn't really one of those," she explains, looking at Percy with a smirk.

"Then what kind of train is it, exactly?" I ask, but immediately regret it when Percy and Ana give me a scary looking grin.

"Oh you'll see," Percy says, patting my shoulder. I shrug his hand off out of instinct and a glint of hurt flashes in his eyes. I don't know whether to apologize, but being touched by any guy was not what I was used to. In fact, I felt on edge whenever Percy stared or touched me. He seemed like a nice guy, he was Thalia's friend after all, and she wasn't really one to be friends with everyone. I just hoped he'd get the message that I was nothing like Thalia, and wasn't planning on being 'friends' with him.

Well that sounded harsh.

"So, this wacko train will take us to San Francisco, where The Garden of The Hesperides is at? How in Olympus are we going to get all the money for 35 train tickets? Once again, please explain," I say, putting a hand on my hip.

In record timing, Ana takes out a pile of golden tickets and shoves them in front of my face, smirking. "Got that done already, Katniss Everdeen. Now you just worry your pretty little head about getting some rest. You'll need it."

I ignore her little nickname for me and turn to Percy, grinding my teeth. "And you picked her to join the Quest because...?"

* * *

"This is the train station?"

We woke up like Ana had said, before the sun rose, and escaped from the camp's borders without waking anyone up. In the process, we had finally met both Theodore (who prefers to go by Theo) and Nate, our two extra companions from the trip. Theo was aggressive and impassive, a true son of Ares, while Nate was a ball of energy. Him and Dayi warmed up to each other quite quickly, being half siblings and all, though Theo got on the wrong foot with Melissa. She claimed he had some real anger management issues and needed one of those squishy stress balls. I just thought the boys were both...interesting.

"Welcome to the Sun West Line," Ana states. She turns to me and smiles. "You know, I'm surprised you haven't heard of this, given that this is your father's train."

My eyes slightly widen and I look to the side to see Percy, smirking. "My father, Apollo...has a train?"

"Quite a fast one actually. We'll be in San Fran by tomorrow morning," the daughter of Athena finishes, grabbing the tickets and counting them each quietly.

"All aboard!" Har yells and laughs as he runs to enter the train, whose doors have opened and horn has sounded. Melissa squeezes my shoulder and I turn back to see both her and Dayi standing behind me. "I chose the window seat!" Melissa yells, as Dayi groans. "No way, I want the window seat! Angie you're sitting with me then." Meli sticks her tongue out at Dayi and I chuckle. These two really know how to lighten up the mood. I wouldn't know what I'd do without them.

We all enter in a single file line, having been trained to be organized and professional by Artemis herself, while Theo and the others shove and push each other into the train, laughing and yelling loudly like a bunch of animals. I click my tongue in disgust as Thalia appears next to me, rolling her eyes. "Could they be any more..."

"Stupid?" I suggest, and Thalia snorts.

"I was going to say another word, but that works too."

I move to sit down next to Dayi, but I am suddenly grabbed by my arm. I turn back and see Har, green eyes almost smirking at me. "Can I help you?" I ask.

"I would like to sit down next to your good lady friend. Danielle is it?" he asks, his eyebrow quirking up.

I suddenly have a bad taste in my mouth. "It's Dayi."

"Brilliant, thank you." And the little flirt has enough guts to actually sit down and take my seat without a reply. I roll my eyes and get out of the way, walking around to find an empty seat.

"I warned you," a voice says, and I turn to see Percy.

I scoff. "He's like a sick puppy."

"You mean love sick puppy."

"No, just sick."

He nods and looks down at the seat next to him. "This one's free."

I chew on my bottom lip and pull a strand of hair behind my ear. "Umm, thank you, but I-"

"If I see anyone out of their seats, I will personally go up to you and rip your head from your neck. Understood?" Thalia growls from somewhere behind us.

"-will take that offer gladly, thank you," I finish, sitting down quickly next to him. I put my bag down on my lap and turn to face him. "So, is this really my father's train?"

Percy opens up the shade on the window, letting the early rays of light seep in. "Mhm. He has quite the collection of cars on the other side as well. Very impressive. He actually doesn't have real railway, it was a one time thing that can only work during daylight, but I made a deal with him to allow a one way trip to San Francisco," he opens up his bag and takes out two pairs of sunglasses, handing one to me. I blink in confusion as he puts it on.

"Ummm...?"

"Trust me, you're going to need it," he says. I'm still oddly confused, but I put the glasses on anyways, knowing that directions must be obeyed at first instruction.

"Welcome inside the Sun West Line railway," a voice blasts off from the speakers. "Please stay in your seats until the safety shades shoots down on your windows. Until then, keep your arms, legs, and extra limbs inside the ride at all times. Thank you for choosing us, and have a 'bright' day."

Before I can even prepare myself, the train takes off, blasting into what feels like a ridiculous high speed, causing me to yelp and hold on tightly to my arm rest, a bright, warm light shooting in through the windows. I hear Melissa screaming from her seat in the front and Har chuckling like a psycho. After a few minutes of the same speed though, I feel myself become used to it. I breathe in deeply and try to move forward, but can't. Wiggling, I realized that my back was most likely going to be pressed against my seat for the remainder of the ride.

"Did I tell you, or did I tell you?" Percy asks, tipping his sunglasses slightly over so his sea blue eyes are staring at me.

"You told me. You definitely told me," I say, nodding and lightly chuckling.

"Look at that, the daughter of Apollo has teeth. I didn't know you could smile," he teases, and I surprise myself as I gently smack his shoulder. He laughs and moves his attention to his book bag, taking out a notebook.

"What's that?" The words fly out of my mouth before I realize how nosy I seem. Percy looks up at me and then back down to the ratted out composition book on his lap. "It's a journal. I...I write down everything that's important. So I won't forget. There was a time when I did forget, and I don't want that to happen again." He opens up his notebook and flips to a page, taking out a pencil and scribbling something down.

I tilt my head, trying to get a good look at what he was writing, but feeling sleazy about it. I clear my throat and stare at the back of the seat in front of me. "What are you writing down?"

"That you smiled," he responds simply, eyes still on the page as he concentrates on the words.

I blink at his response, face hardening slightly, not out of anger, but of...confusion? I was unsure. I didn't understand what he had meant. About anything. About the time he supposedly forget, about writing down the fact that I flashed my teeth at him for a split second. I had just met Percy Jackson, and he was already puzzling me more than anyone I had ever met. From the corner of my eye I see him shut the notebook close and stuff it in his backpack, putting it under his seat.

"So, you know about The Garden of The Hesperides, right?" he asks me.

I still maintain my eyes forward, my mind trying it's hardest to come up with some answers to the puzzle that is Percy Jackson. "I know it holds the Tree of Immortality. That's about it though," I admit, fiddling with my thumbs.

"Well, how about a history lesson, Sunshine? One must always know where they're headed."

I groan at the familiar nickname. As an Apollo kid, I get that a lot. More than I like. "This better be both amusing and accurate, Jackson. You already got under my skin with that dreaded name."

"Sunshine?" he asks innocently, but I know he's doing it on purpose. I roll my eyes but stay silent. He chuckles and shakes his head. "Alright, so the garden belongs to Hera, it's her garden of the west. Gaea gifted her fruit branches after accepting Zeus, and that's where the golden apples grew from."

"Golden apples?" I face him, eyebrow raised in interest.

"Yup. Sounds cool huh? The golden apples are said to give you immortality with just one bite."

"Wow," I breathe. "Those are some fancy apples."

He laughs. "The Hesperides were given the job of taking care of the tree, but occasionally plucked from it themselves. Not trusting them, Hera also placed in the garden a never-sleeping, hundred-headed dragon named Ladon."

"Wait, hold up. A dragon?!" I practically yell. "Nobody said anything about a dragon!"

"Umm, yeah. But it's not like we're fighting him...kinda."

"Kinda? What do you mean kinda?! Gods Jackson, nobody said we were going to fight a thousand-headed dragon!" I practically hiss at him.

Okay, okay. It's honesty time.

I have fought harpies, hellhounds, an angry lamia, and even a psycho cyclops. But never, have I ever encountered a dragon. Nor did I even want to. So Percy telling me that we were going to 'kinda', not fight that fire breathing beast with more heads than I had friends, was like telling me I was going to jump off the Empire State Building without a parachute.

"It's a hundred heads, by the way. Not a thousand. And well, we just have to sneak over Ladon's head, or in this case heads, and figure out a way to get him to..trust us, I guess" he shrugs.

"Why can't you just tell Hera to tie him up on a leash or something?"

"Yeah, that's the thing." Percy shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "She doesn't exactly know we are going over to her garden. Nor that it is being threatened."

"What?!"

"Shh!" Percy clamps a hand over my mouth immediately, causing my glasses to nearly fall over. "None of the other Hunters besides Thalia know and I'd like to keep it that way. I don't want any more chaos."

I roughly push his hand off my mouth and snarl at him. "What do you expect me to say? Oh, okay, it's totally fine that the wife of the most powerful god of all has no idea we are moving into her property?!"

"Again, it sounds bad when you say it." Percy scratches the back of his neck nervously. "It all came to me in a dream, remember? I don't exactly have cold hard proof that the garden will be under attack! She won't believe me if I don't have evidence. Plus she hates Thalia. I'm up for a loss already."

Thalia, right. Daughter of Zeus. The bastard child of Hera's nightmares.

"This is insane. How come you got anybody at all to agree to this?" I scrunch my nose up in utter confusion.

"Because things are quiet and boring back at Camp. We seek an adventure," a voice pipes up, and I drift my eyes away from Percy to see Ana's head popping out from the seat in front of me.

"You want an adventure?" I question, brows furrowed.

Ana nods, but is interrupted by another voice. "She just wants to get out of the loony bin that is her cabin," a deep voice says from next to her. But all I see is a head of dark brown hair.

Ana rolls her eyes playfully and smirks. "You're just mad because us children of Athena are wiser than you boneheaded Ares kids. You're just good at punching walls." She laughs but the person next to her grumbles, fist making rough contact with the arm rest, causing me to jump. "Shut up, or I'll throw you out the window."

"Actually, that's not possible. This train is going too fast for you to do that. You'll end up breaking your arms or hurt your back in the process," Ana smirks, sticking her out at the person.

"Watson, you're getting on my nerves." The voice then shows it's face, a tan looking boy with eyes hidden by big black sunglasses and a chin worthy of the word 'wow'.

"Theo Roden, right?" I say, because I saw him talk to Melissa before we got on the train. Anger management kid.

"That's the name, don't ware it out toots." I grind my teeth but he speaks before I can even threaten him. "You're friends with Blondie, aren't you?"

I nod stiffly. "Your point?"

"My point being I just know your crew, not you. Name?"

This boy no longer amuses me. "Angie Prescott," I say almost deadpan. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, of course it is." I frown slightly at his comment but he has now ignored me. "Now Watson, sit down or else you'll wish all I did was throw you out the window."

Ana giggles, and I can somehow still see her eyebrows wiggle despite her glasses. "Ooh, Theodore, getting frisky there. Sorry sir, but not before dinner and a movie," she snorts, and though my feelings for the daughter of Athena were mixed, I find myself actually laughing. I realize now that this is the boy Ana mentioned before, and I smirk in satisfaction at his blush.

"Lovely name Theodore," I say, batting my eyelashes mockingly. Theo grits his teeth and turns his head back to the front. Ana's giggling stops abruptly as she is pulled down in her seat. "Gods Theodore, control yourself! Were in public sweetheart. Keep it in your pants," she teases and I almost choke as I laugh once again. Okay, so maybe this girl wasn't that bad.

I hear Theo groan and I chuckle quietly, turning back to Percy. "So, are they together?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "In Ana's mind, yes, in Theo's...not so much."

"Oh," I nod. "So she's delusional."

Percy shakes his head, a sly grin on his face. "Nope. Just wise."

The safety shades on the window shoot down.


	4. And you shoved him into a window

Percy snores like the starring role of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The chainsaw.

I sigh and move around. My back finally detached it's self from my seat, but I was still dreadfully uncomfortable. I look at Percy and study his drooling face. I had no idea how he could sleep so soundly. We were in a train seat. Sure, it was big, but it was still a seat. Seats aren't really the most comfortable to sleep in. My eyes drift to the dark lashes surrounding his closed eyes. Despite the rough sounds coming from his mouth, he looked quite peaceful. His cheeks were rosy, most likely from the bright rays that were shooting inside the cart. We had taken our glasses off once the safety shades shot down on the window, but he had let me keep the ones he gave me.

"They're yours. Everyone got a pair. I just forgot to give them to you," he had said when I tried to give them back. My eyes had furrowed at this, surprised at how ironic it was that I ended up sitting next to him, but I thanked him and placed it inside the pocket of my bag.

His dark hair framed his pale face nicely as he slept, and I instinctively move a strand from his forehead. My fingers stroke his skin gently and he hums lightly. I flinch at the realization of what I was doing and pull my hand back, unsure of what had possessed me to do that. I bite my lip and shuffle once again in my seat, my chest feeling odd.

"Switch seats with me!"

I jump, startled, and look to the side. Dayi was squatted down next to me, hands gripping my armrest.

"Gods Dayi, what the heck?!" I look down at her and put a hand to my chest, feeling it almost burst.

"Switch seats with me now. Switch seats with me. Switch seats with me. Switch seats with me."

"Dayi! Enough! I am not switching seats with you! You wanted the window seat, well now you got it," I frown at her, irritated.

Dayi sighs in exasperation. "But you don't get it. That Har guy is going to end up a corpse if I have to sit with him for another minute. I can't stand that boy! He keeps calling me 'love' and 'sweetie', it's like he's a real life box of valentine candy hearts! I can't take it any longer!"

I roll my eyes and chuckle. Harold Dawson was a real character.

"Oh yeah, abandon me, why don't you?" Melissa joins us, putting a hand on Dayi's head and standing with a raised brow.

"Oh hush, with that Nate kid sitting next to you, you hardly even know I'm there," Dayi states and I frown as Melissa's cheeks redden.

"Well sorry he's the only one who appreciates 'Starry Night'. You took one look at that painting, called it boring, and walked off. I need to talk about art to someone, you know. Your fellow half brother gets it," she says, glaring at Dayi.

"Wait, wait, you're sitting next to Nate?" I ask, because I honestly had no idea.

"Yes, and I'm sitting next to Cupid jr. thanks to you. What, eager to sit next to Mr. Hot Shot that you forget all about us?" Dayi spits out.

I look at Percy, still sleeping and snoring like nobodies business, and turn back to Dayi. "You're not-so-secret-admirer took the seat from me. I had no choice, Percy offered. I wasn't going to stay standing like an idiot," I hiss at her.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down there, Hunter girls. You guys cranky from the long ride?" Ana's head appears back on the top of her seat and we all stare at her.

Melissa clears her throat. "Umm..."

"Come with me. My butts numb from all this sitting. I think we need a stretch break." She gets up and walks through the aisle. The three of us stare at one another in silence before shrugging in synch and following after Ana.

We cross into another cart, one filled with a variety of expensive looking, beautiful cars.

"Wowza," I say, staring at a blue Chrysler Imperial. "This is...amazing."

"Yeah, Apollo has a thing for cars." She shrugs and moves to sit inside the open trunk of an shiny red truck. "So, do tell about your boy trouble, ladies. I am all ears."

I shake my head as I sit down next to her, following Melissa and Dayi. "We don't have 'boy trouble'. We don't have anything to do with boys," I state seriously, and Ana scoffs.

"Oh please," she points to Dayi, "this one's got Har following her like a lost puppy," she then looks at Melissa, "Nate and you are talking it up like there's no tomorrow," and finally she turns to me, "and you and Percy..." she pauses, smirking up at me. "Well, that's a bit of a complication."

I blink. "Complication? How so?"

"Oh, so you do think there's something there?" she wiggles her brows and I fume. "No, there isn't. I just don't understand what you mean by 'complicated'," I say, frowning.

"Sorry, but it's not my story to tell," and she somehow is able to lay down on the trunk, staring up at the ceiling. My fist clench in annoyance at the lack of an answer. Was this how it was going to be? Me getting so many new questions, and not receiving any matching answers to go with it?

"How about you and Theo? Seems like you got something going on," I say, because I don't enjoy her talking about us and the guys when she herself has a more obvious situation.

Ana stays quiet for a moment before responding. "I think you're incredibly smart, but you're not quite honest with yourself, or others."

My nose scrunches up. "What?"

"When Percy told me what the Oracle told him, I didn't believe him. Not at all. It seemed so ridiculous. How could...but now, I see it. I understand. And that's a scary thought," she sits back up, eyes staring down at me, and for a moment, I get nervous. "Percy is my best friend. Don't you dare hurt him."

I look at her in surprise, her words replaying in my head.

Don't  
You  
Dare  
Hurt  
Him

"I-I won't. I don't plan to. Listen, if this is about the arrow..."

She puts a single hand up and I stop, her eyes closing for a brief moment before opening back up again to face us. "Melissa and Dayi are your names, correct?" Melissa and Dayi both nod awkwardly. I guess they were as thrown off by Ana's change in moods as I was.

"I like your braid. French, is it?" Ana asks, and Dayi immediately beams.

"Yes, thank you! Finally, I did it right and somebody notices," she claims proudly.

I chuckle and Melissa gasps. "Dayi, you did it! See, and you didn't need any help."

Dayi's cheeks suddenly flush and I raise a brow. "What?"

She bites her lip and looks down at her lap. "I kinda did have some..erm, help."

Melissa frowns. "How can your luck help you with a braid?"

Dayi chuckles nervously. "It wasn't my luck this time. It was...ummm...Har."

Me and Melissa both stare at Dayi with wide eyes as Ana smirks. "I told ya'll!"

-

After having a nice time talking and playing a game of 'would you rather', we all left the cart/auto show and returned to our seats to get some much needed sleep. When I got back, Percy's head was leaning against the window and his snores quieted down. I smile softly and sit down, trying to find a comfortable position and shutting my eyes closed.

I woke up a few hours later, eyes starting to blink open and a loud yawn escaping my lips. I find that my head is leaning against something warm and I nuzzle into it. The smell of sea salt makes it's way into my nose and I sigh in contempt. It is when I feel something tickling my cheek that my eyes fly open and my body stiffens.

Percy's head was resting against the crock of my neck, a tiny, sleepy smile on his lips as his eyes remain shut. My face gets hot and I don't know what to do because if I end up waking him up, it'll be mortifyingly awkward and I could not deal with that. I look around and see only a few more people awake, but nobody staring at me. If I, a Hunter of Artemis, was caught in this compromising position, there would be horrible consequences. I rack my brain for any solutions, but come up with nothing worthy of taking action. So, I do the first thing that comes to mind.

I shove Percy hard off of me, making his face smack against the window, waking him up abruptly.

He yells in surprise, rubbing the side of his face as I try to calm my red cheeks down. "What happened?!" he asks, eyes wide and frantic.

I pretend to look confused and shrug. "How should I know?"

Percy blinks and rolls his eyes, groaning as he sits up straight. "What time is it?"

I look around and see Lena Michelson sitting on the seat near me. I lean over and peer at her watch. "11:30. Wow, that's the latest I've ever slept," I stated. I lean back down and look at a surprised Percy.

"Really? The latest?"

I nod. "There's things we gotta do as a Hunter. We can't just sleep the day away."

Percy grimaces. "That's horrible."

Before anything else could be said, several trolleys fly past us in the aisles. The golden carts carry several steaming plates and my eyes widen as one stops next to us.

"Compliments of Apollo. A breakfast fit for the Gods," Percy says, rubbing his hands together eagerly and standing up to grab two plates. He hands one to me and my mouth waters immediately at the sight of it. Scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, two strips of bacon, a sausage link, three mini pancakes bathed in syrup, and a variety of fresh fruits.

"I know we had to pack our own stuff for lunch and dinner, but Apollo agreed to include breakfast for the trip," Percy says with a wink, and immediately digs into his breakfast. I grin, ecstatic as well at the free meal, and am about to devour the entire plate until a flash of gold catches my eye. I use my fork to go through my food and find a piece of golden paper under my eggs. Fishing out the tiny paper, I realize it resembles the ones inside the fortune cookies.

'Pleasure to have you aboard my train, daughter. Do know that I have my sights focused on you, and I wish you the best on this quest. Little warning, the Oracle has spoken, and if it is right, there will be chaos beyond anyone's imagination. Beware.'

-Apollo

I reread the words over and over again, my mind going haywire. Apollo, my father, has contacted me. He broke the timeless rule to just tell me that he is watching over me. I'm over joyed, and worried, and happy, and nervous and just everything combined! But, it's his last words that throw me off.

The Oracle.

Chaos.

I remember Percy mentioning something about the Oracle, but he never got to finish. It had something to do with me, I know it. Percy said it. He said it when he grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. My mind flashes back to my late night escape with Ana and the others and remember her sudden change in mood. Her words meant something. They weren't just a random warning. Something was going to hurt Percy, and I was somehow involved in it. I put my hands over my eyes and sigh in frustration. I still didn't get it.

"Not a big fan of breakfast foods? Percy asks.

I slowly move my hands from my face and stare at him. "Eggs make me gassy."

-

"Well that wasn't so bad," Thalia comments as she hops off the steps of the train.

"Easy for you to say, you were practically asleep the whole time," Phoebe joins in, hoping down after her.

Once we are all off the train, we start walking towards our destination; The Golden Gate Bridge.

"Don'cha think people are going to get suspicious about 5 teenagers and a whole team of girls carrying bows an arrows walking all the way to one of the most monumental architectures in the U.S?" An Irish accent says from behind me. I turn back to see Nate O'Connor with an almost nervous grin on his face. I stare at him and then look up at his sandy blonde hair, a lightbulb going off in my head as I realize he was the boy that was staring at me the day I arrived to camp.

"The thought has crossed my mind once or twice, which is why I came prepared," Ana says as she zips open her backpack and takes out a cap and a flag. "I will be acting as your tour guide, and you all will be my foreign, lost tourists. Now, who's ready for Ana's party tour?!"

I blink and turn back to Nate. We both share an amused expression and follow the dark headed girl, waving her orange "CHB" flag in the air.

"You don't t think Hera will notice us trespassing her garden?" Dayi asks, and I almost yelp as Har comes out of nowhere.

"Nah, she's probably too busy forming a plan to destroy Thalia." The green eyed boy grins as Thalia punches his shoulder.

"I'm just worried about that...err...giant lizard thing," Nate says and I feel relief in knowing that I wasn't the only one completely terrified.

"Ladon? Oh yeah, he's a beast," Har nods.

Dayi rolls her eyes. "No, duh."

"That things got so many heads, if you stopped to count them all, you'd be dead. Dead! That's just..." Nate puts a hand over Melissa's mouth, shaking his head nervously as I flinch and feel the eggs I just ate raising up my throat.

"So, are we going to fight it Jackson, or what? 'Kinda' is not an answer, and I would like to know," I say as I look to my side and face him.

Percy ruffles his hair a bit and looks up at the sky, an apologetic smile on his face. "You take the left, I take the right?"


	5. You shoved him like three times already

Thanks to those of you who continue on reading this story, I do appreciate it.

σας ευχαριστώ

(Thank you)

* * *

How we made it to The Garden of the Hesperides, I had no idea. But we did, without any missing limbs or bleeding chests and that was all I could ask for.

The garden was genuinely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Lush green meadows and shimmering grass was spread all around the area, enchanting flowers, it's colors bright and hypnotizing, decorating the entire garden. Black marbled stones surrounded an enormous tree, it's branches wide and thick, almost looking as if they were reaching for the sky. And on those branches hung beautiful, pure golden apples, so shiny that the light of the sun reflected off of them.

Somehow, I felt a pull inside of me, the thought of the apples making my mind hazy and lustful for them. I just knew deep down inside that one small bite would end up being the most delicious thing that I would ever taste. And that alone was driving me insane. The Garden of the Hesperides was a complete dream. I would even claim that it was a true paradise, if it was not for the large dragon resting in front of the grand tree.

"Zowie! Look at the size of that thing!" Nate exclaims, his blue eyes wide.

"Shh! You don't want to wake him up!" I hiss at him quietly, because I'm already nervous enough and if this boy ends up waking up that fire breathing beast, I will rip him in two. "What do we do? How are we going to do this, did anybody think about any of this?!" I whisper in panic.

"Umm, hello, that's why I'm here," Ana states, her cap and flag put away once we crossed the mist to get to the garden. "So Ladon is in charge of the tree. All we have to do is watch over him watching over the tree. No need to communicate or fight him. Now, in order to do that, we must stay away from his sights."

"His sights? He's got a hundred heads!" Nate exclaims and Thalia punches him in the shoulder.

"Shut up and listen! Seriously, if you keep yelling like that, you'll wake him up and I'll make sure you're it's first entree," Thalia threatens, causing Nate, and even me, to gulp.

"Alright, so first things first, we need to set up camp away from him. All the Hunters have tents, the rest of us will just end up sharing with them," Ana instructs.

"Hold it, sharing?" Dayi asks, a grimace on her face.

Ana nods. "Yes. Theodore here was in charge of them for us, but his thick skull forget to use its brain." Theo growls, eyes glaring daggers at Ana, but the daughter of Athena barely bats an eyelash. "So we will each be sharing with one of you."

"Which one of us?" I ask, eyebrow raised.

I feel eyes on me again and I turn my head just in time to see Percy look away. "That's a question that will be answered once we set up camp. Now, Hunters, mind following me?" Ana says, and the giant group of parka clad girls follow her.

"You don't think that thing will wake up at any moment and devour us when were not paying attention?" Nate asks, his hands slightly shaking in nervousness.

Melissa shakes her head and gives the blonde boy a sympathetic smile. "It's alright. You'll be fine. Just stick with me, I got you."

Nate's expression softens and he gives her a soft smile. "Okay," he says simply, and the two walk slowly together.

My brows furrow at the action. If it wasn't for Melissa having a caring and compassionate personality, I would have thought something completely different was going on with her.

Something forbidden.

"Dayi, where did the pup go?" I ask her, referring to Har.

She snorts. "Beats me, but I'm just glad he..."

Before Dayi even got to finish, a loud shriek shoots off from behind us. Both our eyes widen as we turn back to see Nate pale, his blue eyes as large as saucers, while Har was on the ground, laughing and chocking at the same time. And what could be worse than two idiots acting like fools? Two idiots foolishly waking up a hundred headed dragon.

Ladon's growls tore through the air, the ground rumbling beneath us. All of our heads shot forward as we saw large wings spreading out, nearly touching the sky.

"Holly..."

Melissa screams, cutting me off as I fall to the floor in surprise at the sight of the grand monster.

Ladon stomps towards us, his multiple heads hissing and growling and showing off their fangs and sharp tongues. I can hear everybody else yelling and running, but all I can do is stare at the monster, mouth opened and chest pounding.

"What are you doing?!" I hear a distant voice say, and strong arms grab me from my shoulders, but my eyes remain locked on the furious beast.

Nate comes running towards me, eyes frantic as he yells, but before he could get close, a ginormous claw traps him, causing the person holding me up to scream out his name. Ladon's claw shoots up into the air, Nate clutched tightly between it, yelling and shouting slightly comical expressions, but the scene was too serious to laugh at.

"Nate!" Melissa yells, and next thing I know, she is running towards the beast.

My throat is dry and my chest is beating rapidly. I want to scream, to go into action, but I am frozen in place. I can't move, not even when the person behind me tries to shake me out if it.

Melissa stops in front of Ladon, Nate trying to escape from its clutches. In one swift moment, she shoves a hand into her pocket and takes out a paintbrush. "H-hey ugly!" she yells, and Ladon's eyes are now fixated on her.

"Is that...is that a bloody paint brush?!" Nate yells from up in the air, panicked. "What are you going to do? Paint 'Starry Night' on him?!" he asks, and I can tell he believes he's going to end up being a dragon treat.

Melissa ignores him, eyes locked on the dragon, throwing the paintbrush in the air. In a split second, the paintbrush transforms into a spear in midair, and she catches it perfectly. Spinning the spear in one hand, she throws it with a grunt and it hits the dragon's chest, causing it to give a deafening, animalistic cry.

Nate watches the entire thing from above with an opened mouth. "I take back what I said before. You just do what you're doing," he says, but yelps as Ladon swings him around, using his other claw to rip out the spear from his chest. In a moment, the rest of the Hunters come running forward, Thalia leading them off. Melissa spots them and joins them, her spear turning back into a paint brush as she grabs her bow from her back.

"When I say go," Thalia instructs, and all the girls get into their straight line formation in front of the dragon. "Ready," they all raise their silver bows, arrows ready. "Set," I feel a slight push on my back and I nearly fall over. Though I want to join my sisters, though I need to, I cannot. I am paralyzed. "Go!"

29 arrows shoot off into the air, almost all of them hitting the dragon in various places. Ladon lets out an ear splitting cry and let's go of Nate, the poor Irish boy screaming as he plummets to the ground. Before he can make contact with the grassy bottom, Melissa blasts off to him, somehow managing to catch him bridal style in her arms.

I watch the entire thing in utter shock.

Nate's eyes open, having closed them in fear, and his mouth drops as he faces Melissa. "Y-you saved me. ...You saved me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Nate leans his head up and kisses Melissa all over her face, the rest of the Hunters watching with horrified expressions, as well as I.

Nate pauses, finally realizing what he was doing, and moves his head back, Melissa's blue eyes wide. There's a moment of silence before Melissa clears her throat and surprises us all as she drops Nate to the floor. "Watch what you're doing next time," she states, her voice bare of any emotion as she turns and walks towards me.

Nate is left on the floor, his eyes following her in confusion and his cheeks red in embarrassment. The arms behind me suddenly spin me around, and I come face to face with Percy.

"Are you okay? You froze! You nearly scared me half to death," he rambles, and there's an unreadable expression on his face.

I shake my head. "I'm alright. I just..." I stiffen as his thumbs begin to stroke my arms. Though the feeling is nice and I am calmed by his warm hands, I feel something odd in my chest once again and shove his hands off me.

He's touching me. I don't like him touching me. He cannot touch me.

"I'm fine."

Once again, Percy shoots me a hurt look from before, and I realize this is the third time I shoved him since I met him. I'm usually not this violent or aggressive, at least not all the time. I don't why I am...with him. I swallow and look down. "I'm just fine."

"Alright. Everybody good? Everybody okay? Great, let's set up camp, it'll be dark soon," Thalia says as she starts to walk away.

"Wait, what about the dragon? It's not dead, is it?" Dayi asks from behind her.

Thalia turns. "No, it's not. But it's temporarily withering in pain. I say we take the opportunity to go, and figure out what to do with him later."

Dayi nods and Thalia walks off once again, all of us following her.

I feel another hand grab my arm, but this time I know immediately who it is. "I'm okay Mel, really. In fact, I should be the one worried about you. You know, fighting the dragon and all. That was mighty tough of you, kid. Don't think Thalia's gonna mess with you anymore," I say as Melissa gives me a soft smile.

"Really Meli, what got into you? You were like Hercules out there," Dayi says, chuckling and patting her back.

"You also saved O'Connors bum. Very impressive, sweet lady." Har appears next to us, smiling this irritating smile at Melissa, and I instinctively grab him by the collar, glaring death at him.

"You idiot! We almost died because of you!" I shout at him. Har stares at me, wide eyed, before slowly beginning to laugh joyfully. I growl. "This isn't funny you twisted jerk. You nearly..."

"Made you all dragon food? I know. What a rush wasn't it? Now we have a funny story to tell when we get back," Har says, grinning crazily at me. I frown.

"If we get back," the son of Ares joins our conversation, fiddling with something in his hands. As I look closer, I see that it is a pocket knife.

"Why do you sound so uncertain?" Dayi asks, hands on her hips.

Theo gives a low chuckle, his eyes flickering up to look at us before moving his gaze back to his toy. "The garden may look like a fairytale, but it's not. Besides the dragon, we got the Hesperides to look out for, which I'm surprise haven't introduced themselves yet, and the force that threatens this place. And us. This is more than just a simple quest, kids. This is the real deal. Death is in the cards," the tan boy says, his lips curling into a twisted smirk as he lifts his pocket knife and points it at us one by one. "Now, the question is," he pauses as he lands on me, eyes glinting dangerously, "Is it you?"


End file.
